Last year, two boys in two boats (one rowboat, one canoe) passed by here in the late afternoon. The boats were roped together and both boys were paddling.
Hours later, about a ½-hour after sundown, I was surprised to see them returning! This time, just the older boy (about 10) was paddling -- with one oar -- and they had no lights at all. I called the MPs, as my only powerboat was out of commission.
I never did see the MPs go by -- and it's just as well.
(As kids, and weeks before Dad got the family boat in for the season, my sister and I used to push our wooden raft into the lake and paddle it around. Sometimes...it got pretty dark).
Even as I post this, my neighbor's tenants just returned in a canoe! (At 9:17 -- it's dark).
Somebody posted this nugget a while back. It sure expresses the right sentiments for a increasingly-crowded lake at night -- with boats travelling at high speed:
"In boating at night, you are sharing a highway without lines and curbs, and your headlights are out".
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